[Ip-health] News story on patent dispute in Nigeria over sickle cell drug

[Mike Palmedo]

http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=3DreadNews&itemid=3D848&lan=
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*Row over Nigeria sickle cell patent*
Abiodun Raufu
5 June 2003
Source: SciDev.Net

[LAGOS] A controversy has erupted in Nigeria over the sale to a foreign
company of the rights to a patent on a locally developed drug for sickle
cell anaemia.

The drug, NIPRISAN, was developed by a traditional medicine practitioner
working in collaboration with researchers at Nigeria=92s National
Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Development (NIPRD) in Abuja.

Rights to the patent for the drug =97 which is widely regarded as a
significant breakthrough in the treatment of sickle cell anaemia =97 have
been sold to the US-based, Indian-owned company Xechem International Inc.

Local scientists claim that the sale of rights to the patent was illegal
and against the national interest. In a petition to Nigerian President
Olusegun Obasanjo, staff members at NIPRD also claim that the sale of
the patent was illegal, as it was done without the health ministry's
approval.

They are asking the government to probe the sale of the patent, claiming
that NIPRD director general Ufot Inyang =93acted improperly in the sale of
a new drug which was developed locally and could be produced here as well=
=94.

But government officials reject this criticism, and argue that licensing
the patent to a foreign company will allow mass production of a drug
that will help treat a serious hereditary blood disease that is highly
prevalent in Nigeria.

Inyang says the rights to the patent were sold to Xechem with the full
knowledge of the health ministry, and is intended to ensure mass
production of the product.

He adds that the sale had the support of NIPRD board, and that the
minister of health and other top government officials were present when
it was formally agreed. He describes the petitioners as non-technical
support staff at the institute, and claims that their real grievance is
his attempt to reorganise the institute so it can concentrate more on
research.

The incidence of sickle cell anaemia in Nigeria is among the highest in
the world, with more than 100,000 Nigerian children being born each year
with the ailment. Those with the disease suffer a higher than average
frequency of illness and premature death, especially in infancy. The
condition can also cause heart attacks, kidney failure, severe
infections and sudden death.

=93Nowhere is sickle cell disorder more common than in Nigeria, but no
structure has been put in place to address the disorder,=94 says Olu
Akinyanju, chairman of Nigerian Sickle Cell Foundation.

Xechem has announced plans to set up a production plant in Nigeria to
produce the sickle cell drug, which is expected to be place on the
market before the end of the year.

The company has what it describes as =93an international network of
ethnobotanists, local folklore healers (shamens) and chemists=94 which it
uses to screen natural products used by folklore healers for their
potential therapeutic value.